HAITI: BEYOND MOUNTAINS THERE ARE MOUNTAINS\, an exhibit
ion curated by and recently displayed at Art for Change exploring political
and social issues in Haiti\, will be traveling to North Adams\, MA this mo
nth for the Downstreet Art Festival! Haiti: Beyond Mountains there are Mou
ntains refers to a Haitian proverb using mountains as a metaphor for contin
ued obstacles and challenges the country has faced. Political and social e
arthquakes of no small scale have foreshadowed natural earthquakes and hurr
icanes. Yet\, as the first country to achieve independence from colonial ru
le\, mountains serve not only as a metaphor for obstacles\, but also resist
ance of the Haitian people evidenced through an ever-present narrative of w
illful dissent and insurgency. Haiti: Beyond Mountains there are Mountains
illuminates the common thread of strength in civil resistance throughout Ha
iti’s history via mechanisms ranging from civil disobedience to popular upr
isings. The exhibition explores the political\, economic\, and social lands
cape in Haiti prior to the recent catastrophic earthquake\, and examines ho
w this topography has played out in the aftermath of a crisis. Haiti’s civi
l resistance has consistently been paralleled with imperialism of many form
s\, political and economic exploitation and individual greed coupled with e
xtensive poverty\, yielding varying faces of destruction. The earthquake it
self could be seen as a metaphor for eruption of undersurface tensions alon
g both sides of the fault line either between Haitians and outside interven
tionists\, or between Haitian elite and Haitian moun en deyo (“marginalized
and excluded”). Haiti: Beyond Mountains there are Mountains asks us to fur
ther question what the post-earthquake political\, economic\, and social la
ndscapes of Haiti will look like\, both concretely and metaphorically. If t
he Presidential Palace\, state buildings\, and elite mansions symbolized an
old aesthetic of sauve-que-peut\, or “survival of the fittest” politics\,
will their destruction inspire a new aesthetic of social equity\, inured by
heightened sympathy amid the recent tragedy? Do the mountains beyond not m
erely represent unending obstacles\, but rather souls of Haiti rising\, nur
turing new opportunities for the peasantry alienated from state power until
now? Will the political and social topography constitute a more “level” pl
aying field? Featuring artworks by: Featuring artworks by: Jonathan Allen\
, Patricia Brintle\, Yae Li Cho\, Andrew Fish\, Kathleena Howie-Garcia\, Vi
dho Lorville\, Isabel MacDonald\, Kelsey Montague\, Sarah Olson\, Tara Pars
ons\, Michael Pribich\, Courtney Puckett.